Aftermath
by EternalRandomChick
Summary: In the wake of the battle with Pitch and rediscovering his memories, Jack makes a memorial for his sister. Tooth watches him and finally learns of his past, and some confessions are made. Image found on dA, link is in my profile. I am merely using the image with permission.


**A/N: Okay, so I have seen Rise of the Guardians three times, most recent time was a week ago, and it has taken me this long to post this? What's wrong with that picture? Anyway, RotG was THE best movie I've ever seen! Even though I turn eighteen on my next birthday (I DON'T WANT TO GROW UP!) I promise that I will always believe in the Guardians. I was so excited when I saw that Jack/Tooth was a canon pairing, so I had to write my own contribution to this ship. Sorry that it took so long for me to write and post this. Anywho, enjoy!**

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After all that had happened during that battle with Pitch and then being made an official Guardian afterwards, Jack Frost had thought that nothing would ever surprise him again. Boy, was he going to be proven wrong!

Jack landed on the frozen pond after flying around the world. He had travelled around the world multiple times in the past three hundred years, but this was his first time as a Guardian, and as he flew, he made sure to keep an extra-close watch on the children who he was now protecting. The frost spirit could hardly believe that he was a Guardian, but he guessed that that was just his new lot in life, or should he say, in his afterlife. He glanced down at the very pond where Pitch had been defeated, but this pond was also where he had saved his sister Abigail at the cost of his own life, this was where he had become Jack Frost.

Jack raised his head to the heavens. "I'm sorry I left you so soon, Abby." He whispered, hoping that his sister could hear him, wherever she was. "You'd probably be proud of me, li'l sis. I'm protecting children all over the world now." He glanced back at the pond and took a deep breath. "I sure hope you can see me, Abby, because this is for you." He began to skate a pattern on the ice, but this time, instead of his usual, happy-go-lucky attitude and reckless actions, this time, his actions were more controlled, more serious. He called up his now unlocked memories of his family, specifically of his sister, and manipulated his fern patterns into the shape of Abigail's favorite animal and favorite flower.

When he was finished, he flew up to admire his work from above. The patterns showed a deer stooping its head down to sniff at a snowdrop. He smiled at the image of the deer, remembering when he had put antlers on his head to make her laugh when she was sad that she couldn't go out to play. The snowdrop had been her favorite flower, and he now remembered going out to pick a whole bouquet of them for her for her tenth birthday, the last birthday that he had been alive for.

"That's beautiful."

Tooth's eternally energetic voice sounded from behind him and Jack was startled so badly that when he whirled around to face her, he nearly fell out of the air.

When he got over the shock, Jack smirked. "Thanks." But he wasn't yet done with his memorial to his sister. He flew down so that he was hovering above his artwork, but he was low enough for his staff to touch the ice. Slowly, Jack outlined the picture with his staff, and, when he was done, he lifted the whole picture out of the ice, leaving an empty expanse of water where the ice used to be.

Jack blew on the ice sculpture, infusing it with his magic so that the ice would never melt or break, before shrinking it and placing it reverently in the pocket of his hoodie. To finish the job, he leaped over the expanse of water and caused it to freeze over once again.

Finally, Jack was able to turn back to Tooth. "Sorry that took so long, I wanted to make sure everything about it was perfect."

The tooth fairy merely shook her head good-naturedly and raised her hand, showing that there was no need to apologize. "That truly was beautiful, and it was an honor getting to watch you make that." Jack ducked his head in embarrassment, certain that if he still retained the ability to blush like a regular human, it would be impossible to distinguish his face from a tomato. As it was, his cheeks were already turning a distinct shade of blue.

Tooth wasn't finished yet. "I do wonder why you were more in control of your actions. Most of the time I've seen you, you're always energetic, leaping around and whooping with delight when doing anything involving ice and snow. But just now, you seemed like your life depended on getting that sculpture absolutely perfect. It was almost scary, seeing you so serious."

"It's a memorial for my sister." Jack explained. "Her favorite animal was a deer." He laughed slightly. "Deer usually freeze up and run when they see humans, but they wouldn't when they saw Abigail. They would actually go _towards_ her, in the hopes of getting sugar, or some other treat." Jack looked at the box of his own baby teeth, which he just now realized he still had. "Dad had deer antlers hanging on the wall from one of his kills from before she was born, and she often tried to get him to take them down. One evening, she was sad that she couldn't go out to play and look for deer, so I yanked the antlers down, put them on my head, and started dancing around in front of her." He gave another laugh, longer this time. "She was in hysterics for the rest of the night."

Tooth laughed along with him as he told her the memory. She flew up to him and he handed her the box, knowing that his memories were safe in her capable hands. "What happened?" she asked. "What happened to make you Jack Frost?"

He turned away, and Tooth suddenly wasn't sure that she wanted to know anymore. But when Jack started to speak, she knew it was too late to take the question back.

"Abby and I went skating, and there was a patch of thin ice that neither of us knew about. My staff was on firm ice, but it was still a good distance away." He turned back to her and motioned to his bare feet. "The reason why I'm barefoot now is because I took off my ice skates so that I would have better balance on the ice. Anyway, I encouraged her to make a game out of it, and I went first, slowly making my way to my staff. She was scared, but once she saw I was safe, she was more willing to come closer. When she was close enough, I used the staff to grab her and yank her forward to firm ice. However, the momentum caused us to switch places and… I wasn't able to get to firm ice in time."

Tooth's eyes widened in realization. "So that's why the Man in the Moon chose you to become the new Guardian, because you died to save your sister. "

Jack nodded solemnly.

"And the flower in the sculpture?" Tooth asked. "I'm sorry if my asking so many questions about your previous life is making you uncomfortable."

"No, it kinda feels good to get this off my chest." Jack confessed. "Abby's favorite flower was the snowdrop." He gave a small snort of laughter. "You've really got to appreciate the irony there. Her favorite flower was the snowdrop, and now her brother is the spirit of winter." Tooth gave a small smile, and the newest Guardian continued. "I remember; it was her tenth birthday, only about a month or so before I died and became Jack Frost, and I went out before sunrise and picked a whole bouquet of snowdrops for her as a birthday present." A sentimental smile crossed his face as he reminisced. "She was hugging me the entire morning, saying that I was the best big brother in the world about every ten seconds."

Tooth gave a small giggle when Jack recounted the memory of his sister's antics. She glanced down at the tooth box and then uttered a single word: "Why?"

That caught the winter spirit off guard. "Why what? Why would I want to die to save my sister? The answer's right in the question: she was my sister!" The air started to get colder and snow drifted down as Jack's anger rose.

Tooth quickly shook her head in an attempt to calm her fellow Guardian. "No, I mean, why did you come back to help us in the battle?" When she saw Jack's confused face, she elaborated, "Baby Tooth told me about when Pitch visited you in Antarctica; that he extended an offer for you to join him, but you refused. After the way we treated you, I don't think I would have held it against you if you had accepted his offer. So, why didn't you?"

Jack didn't need much time to formulate an answer, in fact he responded almost immediately. "If I had accepted his offer, sure, people might have believed in me, but they would have feared and hated me and what I represent, just as they would have feared Pitch." He motioned with his staff to where Jamie and his friends were having a snowball fight. "Look at them. Snow and winter aren't things that should be feared… well, except maybe when the spirit of winter decides to start pulling sneak attacks!" This last statement was said with his familiar mischievous smirk as he bent down, made one of his signature snowballs, and hurled it at Jamie. True to form, the snowball hit its intended target. Jack and Tooth both laughed and waved when Jamie playfully glared in their direction.

"You saved us all in that last battle, Jack." Tooth said when they had calmed down. She flew closer to him, so close that she was able to gently stroke his white hair. "Thank you."

Jack turned and grinned at her, but he did so in a way that kept her hand in his hair. "It wasn't me; it was Jamie. He's the one who kept believing in us no matter what, and he encouraged his friends to keep believing in us so that we had enough strength for the battle."

"But you were the one who reaffirmed his belief in us." Tooth countered. "And by doing that, you also caused him to believe in you. So_ you_ were still the one who saved us." The girl smiled at the frost sprite, and then she bent and kissed his cheek.

Jack's body tensed in shock and his staff clattered to the ice. The blue flush had returned to his cheeks, and this time, it spread even farther, even his ears were starting to turn blue.

Tooth thought she had offended him by her actions, so she began to fly away. Since she was part hummingbird, she could fly pretty fast. The humming of her wings and the screaming of her mind drowned out Jack's voice when he called after her, "Tooth, wait!"

It was too late; the energetic fairy was already out of hearing range. Jack sighed in momentary frustration before he called on the wind. Using his staff, Jack caught a cloud with the wind and sent the cloud directly into Tooth's path.

Tooth had gotten used to flying through clouds when she was out in the field, but 440 years of letting her fairies handle the tooth rounds without her had taken its toll. Her wings gathered a bit of condensation; not enough to pull her back to the ground, but certainly enough to considerably slow her down. When Jack's hoodie-clad arms gently encircled her waist from behind, she realized that that was exactly what the frost spirit had intended all along.

Jack gently turned her around so that she was facing him, and Tooth gasped when she saw the look in his eyes. He had the same look that he had when she had embraced him after the battle. Tooth flushed bright red suddenly when she began wondering what his lips might feel like.

And suddenly, he _was_ kissing her. His kiss felt like the cold wind that was known to blow through the mountains surrounding her palace, but much colder. However, there was something inexplicably inviting about this cold, and Tooth found herself snuggling closer to Jack, and she brought her hand up and began to run her fingers through his beautiful snowy locks.

To Jack, Tooth's constant energy made her like a small flame, but this was a warmth that Jack welcomed, and even wanted more of. He pulled her closer to himself and his heart soared when he felt her draw her arms tighter around him.

The kiss remained simple, but any doubts that either of them had about their feelings for the other were washed away. When they separated (very reluctantly so), Jack took a somewhat firmer grip on the fairy's waist and twirled her around. The cloud that he had summoned had morphed so that now, they were no longer hidden by it, but merely standing on it. Even though it was the afternoon, both Guardians could clearly see the moon, since it was by the moon they were chosen to be Guardians.

"I guess we weren't as alone as we thought." Tooth laughed shyly in embarrassment. "It looks like the Man in the Moon was watching."

"He approves." Jack whispered. Indeed, it did seem as though a shaft of moonlight was shining on them, giving them its blessing. He drew the fairy close to him once again, allowing her to rest her chin on his shoulder.

"I love you," he murmured.

Tooth smiled and whispered back, "I love you, too."

Those four words made Jack's heart warmer than ever before, even before he became a Guardian.

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**A/N: Thanks for reading! See you guys later!**


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